Im Plausch mit: Emily Jane White

It has all this different voices on all this songs that are all my voice. And at the same time there is all this unity to the work in terms of that I was able to talk about all the things I wanted to talk about.

Let’s start with your early beginnings, because I just discovered you and your music recently and would like to know, where you „come from“. You started playing and singing in metal and punk bands? No, not really. I don’t even know why that was written about me. Basically I started playing in some friends‘ rock bands, but that wasn’t metal.

I guess, it’s always difficult to put a label on music. Do you think your music has a label with which you would feel comfortable with? Some people said you’re neofolk or sadcore. Yeah, I guess my music is a bit neofolk in the sense that it explores darker imagery and that I use a lot of minor key. It is also not necessarily repetitive but it has a meditative quality to it. Another folk element is that my songs are very confessional about personal experience versus writings about something external. I know some neofolk bands and I think my music sounds quite different and explores different themes, so I would rather say my music could be classified as folk noir.

Do you remember something that formed your musical heart? Any first experiences? I started playing the piano at the age of 15 and at that time I was living in a really small town in Northern California, so I didn’t have a lot of access to music. So the popular music of that time was rap and r’n’b that you could listen and watch in music videos on MTV. That was a lot what I was observing. But in terms of Songwriting, I’d say, I was really heavily into Tori Amos.

Me too! I love her, I saw her recently actually, she was phenomenal. So she was an influence.

Personally, Kate Bush never got to me. Yeah, they’re different. I would say that Tori Amos in her vocal stylings and her quirkiness is influenced by Kate Bush, that’s pretty clear to me. But in terms of music and what they actually talk about, Kate Bush is a very innovative pop musician and Tori Amos is like a prodigy on the piano. Her skill level on the piano is phenomenal.

Another early band I liked were The Cranberries. But this is really early stuff I listened to. I explored a lot of different indie music. But I really got inspired to write music when I started to be more exposed to more different kinds of music, that was when I went away to university. I was listening to all different kinds of artists with so many different skill levels and backgrounds. That is something that really makes you see how diverse and vast the world of music making is.

And you spent some time in France during your studies? Not for my studies, after my studies I went over to France, I stayed in Bordeaux for three months and played with some bands. That’s not how I found my record label. They heard my music on the french radio France Inter, but they are accidentally also based in Bordeaux.

Why were you interested in going to France? I had studied french in high school and I did a little exchange to the North of France during the high school. I originally went to France because I had a friend who had french friends who came visiting a show of mine and they said I should come to Bordeaux some time and they will put on a show for me.

You say your music and your album is about trauma. How come that you’re interested in trauma? I experienced trauma in my life and it’s been a long process of healing sometimes and I think music played a huge part in that. But the album also conceptionally deals with trauma. It has all this different voices on all this songs that are all my voice. And at the same time there is all this unity to the work in terms of that I was able to talk about all the things I wanted to talk about.

I think if you’re someone who experienced hardship and trauma, a glimpse at least or more, you have an idea how other people experience trauma. I mean I don’t know if I can understand anyone else’s experience, I don’t know if anyone else can. But a level of sensitivity you either have or acquire so you relate to other people experiences.

I sort of tied that into political trauma and people who are really disenfranchised based on race and gender. Trauma affects people on a personal and a physical level, but there are also people who are targeted in a traumatic way as a cultural class, a racial experience, a political experience of trauma. I wrote the song Black Dove, which is about systematic violence against African-American people in the United States which have been given a lot of visibility lately. There is a lot of activism and exposure to what police are actually doing in the United States, we say there is institutionalized racism, there are racist entities of the state, that are targeting African-American people. I think growing up in a poor community or a disenfranchised community, a community that is heavily targeted, there is probably an element of trauma they grow up with. Racism itself is a traumatic experience, you are treated differently.

I think it’s interesting and quite impressive that you, having your own personal traumatic experience don’t focus only on yourself, but that you want to explore the experiences of other traumatized people. I think my music has always been about trying to relate to people, or to offer something that is relatable. Once you create something, it’s no longer yours in a way, and I like that about music. I think it’s really powerful. But I mean some of my earlier songs were much more focused on my own experience but I don’t think I’ve ever written songs from the place to talk just about me. I am actually not interested in that.

Actually it’s something I really struggle with, playing music and being in the public eye. Because in one way you have to respect yourself, what you’re doing and what you’re offering to the world. And you’re touring around and you’re talking to people and you have to be so strong and confident in that. And then there is what people expect of you or project on to you. That part I feel really uncomfortable with. I also don’t really like photos of myself.

I mean I am proud that I made five albums and that I am an established artist, whatever that means. But then in the end maybe this doesn’t mean anything.

But this has always been a part of me, I always wished that I could just write and record without being any kind of a symbol or icon and let the work speak for itself.

Does it help you to have a band? Or would it help you to make music with someone else and then it wouldn’t just be you in the focus of the attention? There had been this possibility in the past, but I always felt that I had a very particular vision of what I wanted to do. If it would be a collaborative endouver it would be something else to what I would do or do. I mean there are these artists which never put anything out with their own name, they have artists name. I guess I could have gone that round, but for some reason I chose to use my own name.

Understandable. I guess I would forget my chosen artist name when I would get on stage and introduce myself. So you said you have a particular vision. Do you have an exact idea of how your songs should sound or do you just make music and see what happens? I usually just improvise for a while on the piano and the guitar and come up with thoughts, words and music at the same time.